Clinton: American Experience

Newest Entry in the Acclaimed American Experience Presidents Collection Profiles the 42nd President

Part 1 premieres Monday, February 20 at 9 p.m. on Connecticut Public Television (CPTV)

Part 2 premieres Tuesday, February 21 following the UConn vs. Pitt game at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Connecticut Public Television (CPTV)

From draft dodging to the Dayton Accords from Monica Lewinsky to a balanced budget, the presidency of William Jefferson Clinton veered between sordid scandal and grand achievement. In Clinton, the latest installment in the critically acclaimed and successful collection of presidential biographies, American Experience explores the fascinating story of an American president who rose from a turbulent childhood in Arkansas to become one of the most successful politicians in modern American history and one of the most complex and conflicted characters ever to stride across the public stage.

From Emmy and Peabody Award-winning director Barak Goodman (My Lai), the four-hour Clintonseries will premiere in two parts on Connecticut Public Television (CPTV). Part One premieres on Presidents’ Day, Monday, February 20 at 9 p.m. and Part Two airs on Tuesday, February 21 following the UConn vs. Pittsburgh game at approximately 9:30 p.m.

This new documentary recounts a career full of accomplishment as well as scandal; a marriage that would make history and create controversy; and a presidency that would define the crucial and transformative period between the fall of the Berlin Wall and 9/11. It follows Clinton across his two terms as he confronted some of the key forces that would shape the future, including partisan political warfare and domestic and international terrorism, and as well as his struggles with uneven success, to define the role of American power in a post-Cold War world. Most memorably, it explores how Clinton’s conflicted character defined U.S. history, even as it enraged his enemies and confounded his friends.

Staff Harold Ickes, as well as interviews with dozens of journalists, members of the Republican opposition, childhood friends, staffers from Clinton’s years as Governor of Arkansas, and biographers.

“William Jefferson Clinton is a lightning rod in American history,” says Mark Samels, executive producer of American Experience. “It’s hard to find anyone who is neutral about the man or his presidency. The complex dynamic between his public accomplishments and his personal foibles makes him endlessly fascinating. At American Experience we like to explore the people who have shaped the times in which they live, and Bill Clinton, both charismatic and confounding, certainly had a profound effect on the country during his presidency.”

Clintonis the 16th episode in the American Experience Presidents series. Programs in the series have won dozens of awards including Emmys, Peabodys, and duPont-Columbia Journalism Awards. Previous programs include LBJ, Nixon, FDR, Jimmy Carter, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush.